6.  The applicant was born in 1971 and is currently serving a prison sentence in Peqin High Security Prison.
7.  From 1996 onwards the applicant has been suffering from chronic paranoid schizophrenia. For many years he has received in-patient treatment in various psychiatric hospitals in Albania.
8.  On 23 August 2002 three persons died, including two children aged 10 and 13, and others were injured as a result of explosives placed in the applicant’s sister’s family’s flat.
9.  On 24 August 2002 criminal proceedings were instituted against the applicant, who, on the same day, was arrested and charged with one count of voluntary homicide, inter alia, of children and one count of illegal possession of explosives. The applicant was placed in the pre-trial detention facility of Durrës Police Commissariat, where he shared a cell with an unspecified number of prisoners.
10.  On 27 May 2003, on the basis of a medical report which concluded that at the time of the commission of the offence the applicant’s mental disorder was in a period of remission, the Durrës District Court ruled that the applicant was able to stand trial. Subsequently, the court found the applicant guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
11.  On 4 June 2003 the applicant’s counsel lodged an appeal with the Durrës Court of Appeal, claiming that the proceedings had been unfair since the experts’ report had been biased and unsubstantiated. He asked the court to order a new medical report in order to establish his state of health.
12.  On 4 September 2003 and 2 March 2004 respectively, the Durrës Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court upheld the District Court’s decision. Moreover, the domestic courts dismissed the applicant’s request for a fresh medical examination. They held that the first medical assessment had been performed by impartial professionals and had complied with procedural safeguards.
13.  Since December 2003 the applicant has been transferred to three different prisons to serve his sentence, namely Tirana Prison no. 302, Tepelene Prison and Peqin Prison, where he is currently being held. He has shared cells with other inmates who were in good health and has received the same treatment as them, notwithstanding his state of health. He has also regularly visited Tirana Prison’s hospital, where he has been treated as an in-patient.
14.  Given the applicant’s increasingly disturbed state of mind, on 7 January 2005 his counsel initiated proceedings before the Tirana District Court seeking his release or transfer to a medical facility on the ground that his detention conditions were inappropriate to his state of health and put his life at risk. The applicant’s counsel requested the court to order that the applicant be examined by psychiatric experts. The request was based on medical reports issued by practitioners who had treated the applicant in the period from March to April 2003.
15.  On 11 April 2005 the Tirana District Court dismissed the request as unsubstantiated since the medical reports submitted by the applicant’s counsel failed to prove that the conditions of his detention posed any threat to his life or state of health.
16.  On 27 September 2005 and 17 February 2006 the Tirana Court of Appeal and Supreme Court respectively upheld the District Court’s decision. According to the applicant, the Supreme Court’s decision was not served on him until 3 April 2006.
17.  On 25 June 2007 the Constitutional Court dismissed an appeal by the applicant on the ground that his claims related to the assessment of evidence which fell outside its jurisdiction.